‘If he lands it, it’s night night’: Bradley sees pathway to Tank knocking out Lomachenko
While Tim Bradley says he views a prospective Gervonta Davis vs Vasiliy Lomachenko as an even fight, he also says he sees one punch being Loma’s kryptonite.
Tim Bradley puts his analyst cap on for a potential showdown between Gervonta Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko. In some excerpts below Bradley breaks down the match up, how he knew Tank’s uppercut would eventually catch up to Frank Martin, and why he thinks that same punch could devastate Lomachenko.
Bradley on how he knew Tank’s uppercut would catch Martin
“Tendencies. Every fighter have tendencies, man. They make certain moves, they do it constantly. I saw it during the film study. I saw Martin always dropping — he’ll change levels, he’ll drop down low almost like a wrestler. He gets in that wrestler stance, he’s used to that, he was an all-state wrestler if you didn’t know that.
“And then when he does that, he kind of puts his lead hand up really high, kind of like blinds his peripheral, and I figured it would be the perfect time...Tank’s going to see it.
“Tank is smarter than a lot of people give him credit for. That motherf-cker smart and he watches everything. Like you don’t think he watching? He watching your videos...You don’t think he’s watching Lomachenko? He’s been watching for years, for years. And he feels he knows how to beat him, trust me.”
On how Tank matches up with Lomachenko
“Tough fight. I think it’s 50/50. I don’t think it’s a 60/40, I think it’s a 50/50 and the reason behind it is if you don’t notice, Tank’s a counterpuncher so he’s always looking, he’s reactive, he’s always looking to counter. He reacts to feints a lot, man. He does. He reacts to feints and Loma is one of the best guys at feinting, getting his opponents out of position.
“So I think that’s going to be challenging. I think it’s going to pose a challenge for Tank as far as his rhythm goes, as far as his timing...I think that’s going to throw Tank off a little bit so I think it’s going to be a little bit more challenging because Loma knows how to change his rhythm, knows how to change the distance as well.
“Is the age factor in this? Could be, yeah. Could Loma be battle worn? Yeah...no doubt about it. But I think he’s smart and I think he can make waves in the fight.
“I really do feel that Tank can win this fight and he can knock him out and there’s certain ways he can do it. I think he got to get Loma on his back foot, man. He got to keep him resetting.
“He gets him on his back foot when he’s out of position, he attack that body. Loma has that high guard, too...a lot of body exposure for Tank to be able to take advantage of and hit him hard and hurt him down to the body.
“Loma, sometimes he’ll misjudge, he’ll mistime, and he’ll come in from too far away and Tank could be able to time him. The shot that I see Tank hurting him with is an uppercut, too. I’ve always felt that was a shot that you can land on Loma. If he lands it, it’s night night.”